Looming in the distance…

Hello! Let’s introduce the reed to the loom and slide over the heddles!

So, you can always tell which is the front of the loom by locating the moving beater bar. That is always in the front! And, that is also where the reed goes – at the front, in the beater bar! You can now tell all your friends that you can identify the front of any loom you come across! (I don’t know that this piece of trivia will win you anything. But, you never know!)

I like to tie the lease sticks such that they don’t go flapping all over during the “threading the heddle” process. Otherwise, it leads to unnecessary frustration and who needs that?

Above is a bird’s eye view of the beater bar with the yarn in it, plus the (4) shafts directly behind it! The heddles all live in the shafts. So, that is where the yarn is headed next!

So, to thread the heddles, I’ll drop my weaving stool down to squatting level and sit behind the loom. That allows me to pull the yarn from the reed, through a heddle, and tie it together with the others in it’s group.

I like bunching the yarns together in inches – helps me count! And believe me, some days I need LOTS of help counting!

For this project, I’m using a very simple order for the heddles – 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4, etc. This doesn’t mean I can dose off while doing it. But, I don’t have to refer to a complicated pattern, either!

Who doesn’t need a spot of orange to cheer up their day? Truly!

The heddles slide along a top and bottom rail in each shaft. It makes it easy to position them just the way you want them!

And I am making tracks! Only the left half to go! I’ll be weaving in no time! Stay tuned for much more woven magic…